Aerobic Exercise and Cognitive Training in Older Adults

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a combined cognitive training and aerobic exercise intervention in sedentary older adults. It is hypothesized that the aerobic exercise will potentiate and increase the generalizability of the cognitive training. Importantly, this study will focus on older adults at-risk for mobility disability. This area is of particular importance considering a large percentage of adults are entering old age and therefore likely to suffer from age-related cognitive decline and mobility disability.

To address the investigators' research question 60 adults (age 18-89) will be randomized to one of two 12 week intervention groups: 1) Cognitive Training alone (CT) or 2) Aerobic Exercise + Cognitive Training (AE+CT). The aerobic exercise arm of the study will follow the same format shown to improve a broad range of executive functions in older adults in previous research. The cognitive training arm will consists of a popular commercially-available brain fitness program that has demonstrated specific cognitive improvements and high adherence.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sedentary Lifestyle
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Aerobic exercise + Cognitive Training Group; Behavioral: Cognitive training Only

Detailed Description

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a combined cognitive training and aerobic exercise intervention in sedentary older adults. Recent research demonstrated that older adults who participated in aerobic fitness training significantly increased their brain volume. Equally important, the demonstrated enhancement in brain size is related to improvement on specific cognitive tasks. For example, researchers demonstrated that 124 older adults randomly assigned to receive aerobic training experienced substantial improvement in cognitive performance tasks related to speed of processing and working memory. Similarly, neuroimaging studies showed that aerobically trained individuals increased brain activation during various cognitive tasks.

A growing body of research also demonstrates the beneficial effects of cognitive training in later life to promote a healthy brain. For example, researchers demonstrated cognitive interventions targeting memory, reasoning and speed of processing were effective to improve brain function. Unfortunately, despite these promising findings, the generalizability of cognitive training is limited. For example, researchers showed cognitive training tasks designed to improve reasoning, memory, planning, spatial skills and attention in over 11,000 participants demonstrated no transfer effects to untrained tasks, even when the tasks were closely related. The purpose of this study is to see if combing aerobic exercise and cognitive training can enhance the cognitive improvement of each. Specially, the investigators wish to determine if aerobic exercise done immediately before cognitive training can potentiate the improvement.

The investigators hypothesized that the aerobic exercise will potentiate and increase the generalizability of the cognitive training. Importantly, this study will focus on older adults at-risk for mobility disability. This area is of particular importance considering a large percentage of adults are entering old age and therefore likely to suffer from age-related cognitive decline and mobility disability.

Background: Currently the United States has over 23 million Veterans. Of this number, 39.1 percent are over the age of 65 a number that will greatly increase as a large percent of the US population ages. Unfortunately, many of these individuals will suffer from some form of age-related cognitive decline and/or mobility disability. Significantly, declining mental health and mobility disability are primary components of the expected 25 percent growth in health care cost related to the aging crisis in America. And, despite the fact that the United States federal government spends $100 billion dollars annually to cure and/or treat cognitive impairments, successful strategies to improve these impairments remain elusive. The proposed research will substantially advance the development of treatments for cognitive and mobility impairment because the goals explore an intervention that may potentially have pervasive effects on US Veterans quality of life and well-being from a physical as well as a cognitive standpoint.

Methods and Research Plan: To address the investigators' research question 60 adults (age 18-89) will be randomized to one of two 12 week intervention groups: 1) Cognitive Training alone (CT) or 2) Aerobic Exercise + Cognitive Training (AE+CT). The aerobic exercise arm of the study will follow the same format shown to improve a broad range of cognitive functions in older adults in previous research. The cognitive training arm will consists of a popular commercially-available brain fitness program that has demonstrated specific cognitive improvements and high adherence.

Baseline testing will consist of a battery of cognitive function that target verbal fluency, response inhibition, and working memory. Additionally, participant will undergo a structural and functional MRI. Participants will also be evaluated on their physical function as assessed by a 400 meter walk, balance tests, and questionnaires about their daily l functioning. And lastly, all participants will be assessed on their aerobic capacity and for visual outcomes and serum BDNF. Following the 12-week intervention all participants will be post tested in the same manner as the baseline testing.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 78
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Georgia
    • Decatur, Georgia, United States, 30033
      • Atlanta VA Medical and Rehab Center, Decatur, GA

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 89 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Right handed
• English speaking
• Aged 18 to 89
• Sedentary as defined by < 120 min/week of aerobic exercise over prior 3 months
• Non-demented (MMSE 24)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Severe diabetes requiring insulin
• Cognitive-executive function deficit (MoCA < 26)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Aerobic Exercise + Cognitive Training Group; Exercise 3 times a week on a stationary ergometer @ 50-80% of maximal heart rate reserve for 20 minutes to 45 minutes per session; plus 20 minutes of cognitive training using Mindfit program	Behavioral: Aerobic exercise + Cognitive Training Group; stationary bicycling
Active Comparator: Cognitive Training Only Group; Cognitive Training Only Group. For this arm of the intervention, randomized participants followed the same guidelines as the cognitive component of the AE+CT group but did not partake in aerobic exercise. To equalize contact/monitoring of the groups this group met for the same total duration time as the AE+CT group; however, instead of aerobic exercise, progressive whole body stretching and toning exercises	Behavioral: Cognitive training Only; 20 minutes of cognitive training using Mindfit program

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change Executive Language Functions (Category Verbal Fluency)	The Category Verbal Fluency Test is demonstrated to be reliable and valid among adults aged 50 to 89. For Category Verbal Fluency, participants are asked to generate words from a category (e.g., colors) within 60 seconds. A higher change score represents better performance on the outcome.	change from pre and post separated by 12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Nocera J, Crosson B, Mammino K, McGregor KM. Changes in Cortical Activation Patterns in Language Areas following an Aerobic Exercise Intervention in Older Adults. Neural Plast. 2017;2017:6340302. doi: 10.1155/2017/6340302. Epub 2017 Mar 6.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 25, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 25, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): June 1, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 16, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 12, 2020
• Last Verified: November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Aging
• Other Study ID Numbers: B8034-W

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No